John Lamb Reed OBE (13 February 1916 – 13 February 2010) was an English actor, dancer and singer, known for his nimble performances in the principal comic roles of the Savoy Operas, particularly with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Reed has been called "the last great exponent" of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedy roles.Smillie, Thomson. "Opera Explained – Gilbert and Sullivan". Naxos AudioBooks, accessed 17 February 2010
The son of a butcher from County Durham, Reed began performing at the end of World War II, joining the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1951. After eight years as understudy to Peter Pratt, he became the principal comedian of the company in 1959, remaining for two decades, playing all the famous Gilbert and Sullivan patter roles, including Sir Joseph in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Major-General in The Pirates of Penzance, Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers, among others. He was known for his "fleet-footed clowning", dry and roguish wit, comic timing, "crystal clear diction" in the patter songs, and his amusing character voice, recording all of his principal roles with the company.
In 1979, Reed left the company but continued performing in and directing Gilbert and Sullivan productions in Britain and America, as well as appearing in other light opera. He retired to Halifax, West Yorkshire, directing amateur Gilbert and Sullivan companies and attending the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton for many years.
Life and career
Reed was born in the village of Close House, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham, the fourth and youngest child of Robert Elliott Reed, a butcher (b. 1874) and his wife, Elizabeth Ann, nee Bridges (b. 1883) "an excellent amateur soprano who rescued the family finances by opening a successful fish shop" after his father's butcher shop failed."John Reed: Principal baritone with the D'Oyly Carte". The Times, 6 March 2010 He was named after his grandfather, a Wesleyan Methodist minister. His sisters were Christina (b. 1903), Betty (b. 1905) and Anne "Hannah" Reed Hunter (b. 1912) (a younger brother, Cyril, died in infancy).Reed (2006), pp. 2–4, family tree and 1911 census records Reed played the piano as a child.Rothstein, Mervyn. "D'Oyly Carte Bartione (sic) Joins Ida Celebration". The New York Times, 30 December 1983, accessed 16 February 2010 From age eleven, he grew up near the much larger town of Darlington, County Durham. He studied elocution, dancing, singing and mime,John Reed. Memories of the D'Oyly Carte, accessed 15 February 2010 but worked in builders' and insurance offices. During World War II, he enlisted in the auxiliary fire service and worked as an instrument maker.Bradley, Ian. "John Reed obituary: Master of the 'patter' roles". The Guardian, 26 February 2010Reed (2006), p. 17
Reed began his theatrical career, after the war, in plays with a repertory theatre company, and as a dancer, winning medals for dance across the North-East of England.Ayre, p. 349Fox, Margalit. "John Reed, Master of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patter Songs, Dies at 94". The New York Times, 27 February 2010. When his father became ill, he returned home to work in his father's business, and performed in musical theatre for a number of years with local amateur companies including the Darlington Operatic Society. He was also a director and dance instructor for the Darlington Education Committee.Robinson, Bessie. "Butcher’s son who sang around world" . The Northern Echo, accessed 15 February 2010"John Reed as Castaway" at Memories of the D'Oyly Carte, quoting Reed's interview in a 1972 B.B.C. radio programme, Desert Island Discs, accessed 15 February 2010
D'Oyly Carte years
Reed joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1951 as the understudy to Peter Pratt, who had recently become the principal comedian of the company.Stone, David. John Reed, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 13 February 2010 At the time of his audition, he knew little or nothing about Gilbert and Sullivan, but the company manager, Frederic Lloyd, assured him that the company preferred this so that they could "start you off in the way we mean you to go". The company performed 48 weeks per year, mostly on tour, usually with winter seasons in London.Joseph (1994), pp. 160 et seq. Reed appeared in the chorus and was given several smaller roles: Associate (1952–55) in Trial by Jury, Major Murgatroyd in Patience (1952–59), Second Citizen in The Yeomen of the Guard (1952–59), Annibale (1952–59) and Antonio (1953–59) in The Gondoliers (a role that took advantage of his dancing skills),Young, Robin. "John Reed: Comic lead of the D'Oyly Carte". The Independent, 1 March 2010 and Mr. Cox in Cox and Box (1957–59). He was coached in his own roles and those he understudied by Eleanor Evans. the company's stage director.Reed (2006), pp. 29–30 In 1955, Reed began to play the Learned Judge in Trial.Rollins and Witts, pp. 176–83 He also substituted for Pratt occasionally, including when Pratt was ill in March and April 1959.
In 1959, when Pratt left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, Reed became the last of the company's long-serving principal comedians, remaining in that role for the next twenty years.Rollins and Witts, p. 183 Writer Andrew Lamb noted that Reed's "nimble dancing, characterful light-baritone singing, and the business he was able to introduce into encores and elsewhere within the generally rigid D'Oyly Carte constraints, soon helped to establish his own loyal following, and the personal rapport he enjoyed with his fans grew to legendary status."Lamb, Andrew. "Obituary: John Reed". Gramophone, 22 February 2010 During these two decades, his parts were as follows: Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance (a role that he gave up in 1969), Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, King Gama in Princess Ida, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Robin Oakapple/Sir Ruthven in Ruddigore, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard, the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers,Rollins and Witts, pp. 183–86 and John Wellington Wells in The Sorcerer (beginning with the 1971 revival).Wilson and Lloyd, p. 182 He dropped from his repertory the role of the Judge in Trial by Jury, in 1959, briefly resuming it for the D'Oyly Carte's centenary celebrations at the Savoy Theatre in 1975.The Savoyard, September 1974, p. 3; and January 1975, p. 5 For that season, he also played Scaphio in Utopia, Limited and Grand Duke Rudolph in the company's concert of The Grand Duke.The Savoyard, January 1975, p. 5 The company had not performed these two works since the original productions in the 1890s. Reed also participated in eleven of the company's overseas tours to North America (eight times), Denmark (1970), Rome (1974) and Australasia (1979).Prestige, Colin. "John Reed – Savoyard". Memories of the D'Oyly Carte, accessed 15 February 2010
In 1977, Reed was honoured as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). He played before Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Royal Family at least eight times, including in 1977 for the queen's Silver Jubilee Command Performance, at Windsor Castle, of H.M.S. Pinafore.Wilson and Lloyd, p. 178 Reed told interviewer Colin Prestige that "When the Prince of Wales, aged eleven, saw The Mikado, Ko-Ko afterwards entertained him in the dressing-room." Although Reed loved the family atmosphere of the company during his nearly thirty years there, he later felt that the company's dynamic was changing. He decided to leave the company during the 1979 Australasian tour, and author Ian Bradley relates one of the incidents that served as a tipping point: "At the end of their first rehearsal [in Australia], conductor Fraser Goulding asked the chorus to stay on for a few minutes just to polish the act 2 finale. The Equity representative promptly stood up and said, 'You know that means we'll be going into overtime'. Reed says: ... we used to go on far into the evening working on things to get them right and never thought of overtime. I realized that was the time to go'."Bradley, p. 42
Assessment Reed said that, of his roles, he probably loved Ko-Ko the most, noting, "[I]t's such fun to do ... you make people laugh, and the children and everybody enjoy him. And I suppose that's what our job is here anyway. To entertain people."John Reed obituary. The Telegraph, 22 February 2010 He also commented, "Ko-Ko is almost me. There's a lot of me in the character. It lets me bring out my sense of humour. ... [In] the character parts ... you must get your own personality through."Watt, John. "The Ones that I Like". Memories of the D'Oyly Carte, accessed 15 February 2010 On the other hand, he said, "Something takes over from me when I go on. I become something different. I'm basically shy, and I go and hide behind my characters." Reed also loved to play Jack Point in Yeomen, a tragicomic character. "Jack Point is me in another age – just a strolling player. I really believe I could die of a broken heart". Reed said that every comedian savours the chance to play a role like Point in which "you like to see if you can make 'em cry a little"."Stage Actor Reed Enjoys Comedic Roles", Ocala Star-Banner, 1 February 1988, p. 7C He also noted that, generally, "I like anything where the dancing comes in". His least favourite role was Major-General Stanley in Pirates, a role that he relinquished in 1969. He also found two drawbacks to playing King Gama: "the heavy make-up ... hid every feature of his face except his eyes, and made it impossible for him to wear his glasses so that he could do his newspaper crossword while waiting to go on". Of the "younger" roles he played even in his later years with the company, Reed said, "I feel I'm so fundamentally a young person. ... I'm older than the part I'm playing, for instance, but I feel young." He loved performing for children and delighted in the gala "last nights" of each London season with the D'Oyly Carte, where he would perform for glittering audiences of "Prime Ministers, Lord Chancellors and First Lords of the Admiralty."
In its obituary, The Guardian asserted: Reed's "comic timing, nimble footwork and clarity of diction made him the acknowledged master of the "patter" roles, at once the most challenging and defining of all Gilbert and Sullivan's creations. His biographer, Cynthia Morey, praised his "feet that hardly seemed to touch the floor as he danced across the stage; the sly glance and raised eyebrow that could bring the house down."Morey, Cynthia. "Obituaries: John Lamb Reed OBE", Gilbert and Sullivan News, Spring 2010, p. 7 The Times called his stage personality "impish", writing: "He was, quite simply, a phenomenon. For 48 gruelling weeks of each of those 20 years he effortlessly negotiated the tongue-twisting patter songs." The latter paper judged Reed a success in his desire to play pathos: "His Jack Point, the lovelorn jester in The Yeomen of the Guard, and the role which he dubbed 'the one apart, the Hamlet of Gilbert and Sullivan', could easily bring a tear to the eye, as did his spoken rendition of 'Iolanthe, thou livest?'"